Grand Island funds investor gets eight years

Sentence meant to be deterrent

Justice Alexander Henderson sentenced Robert Girvan to eight years imprisonment on Tuesday afternoon, starting at 11 years and giving a three-year discount for guilty pleas to theft and money laundering charges.

Girvan admitted in August to 18 counts of theft totalling US$18,986,500.64 over a period of some four years while he was associated with entities known as the Grand Island Funds. During the sentencing and confiscation order he was referred to variously as portfolio manager, trader and investor.

Of the amount stolen, US$4.7 million was recovered as part of the liquidation process and Girvan was required to pay US$4.4 million he was found to have in realisable assets. The balance was lost in trading. Defence attorney Ben Tonner agreed with the Crown’s figures.

Justice Henderson said the paramount consideration in sentencing for this type of criminal behaviour was deterrence to others.

In the matter of the confiscation order, he asked whether the legislature was intending to amend the section of the law that sets six months as the maximum default term of imprisonment if the order is not complied with. Crown Counsel Kirsty-Ann Gunn, who previously explained all of the offences and how they were carried out, said she could not speak to the legislature’s intentions.